266 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October C, 1863. 



Now, I fondly hope that this despotism of King Croquet 

 may result in good, by bringing us back to the dear old 

 borders with a sufficiency of beds boasting the richest hues 

 which beddera can afford, but not a whole lawn full of 

 beds. King Croquet is fast driving, by force of his cannon- 

 balls, bedding plants, if too numerous, to the right-about. 

 The revolution has begun. " There must be room for 

 Croquet," cry all the girls ; so there cannot be room for so 

 many beds. King Croquet forces his way with his Arm- 

 strong guns, for he is a warrior as well as a monarch up to 

 the times. Let us guide the revolution, and it will become 

 a reformation. Let the peer or the millionaire have various 

 kinds of gardens — they have room, and give whole acres to 

 bedding plants. Be it so : but we little people must make 

 the best use we can of our Uttle means. So let us have 

 various flowers, especially plenty of spring flowers and lots 

 of Eoses, bedding plants, and border plants — no prominence 

 given to one kind, but some of aU. 



" I'U take the showers as they fall, 

 I will not ves my bosom ; 

 Enough, if at the end of all 

 A little garden blossom." 



But let it blossom, say I, with some of many kinds of 

 flowers. — Wiltshire Ekctoe. 



MR. DONALD BEATON. 



Scarcely a week passes but we have inquiries from some 

 of ovu- nvimerous readers respecting the health of Mr. D. 

 Beaton. So frequent have these inquiries become, and so 

 general does the interest in our good ft-iend seem to be 

 diffused, that we feel it is necessary we should say a few 

 words by way of satisfying tliis feeling of solicitude. We 

 are happy to be able to say that Mr. Beaton is physically in 

 the enjoyment of the most perfect health ; or, as he remarked 

 the other day when we had the pleasure of visiting him, that 

 he was " better now in health than he has been for the last 

 forty years." 



The aflliction from which Mr. Beaton has been suffering 

 is the rupture of one of the small blood-vessels of the brain. 

 The elfusion of blood on the brain caused a slight disturb- 

 ance of that organ, and affected liis memory in an unusual 

 and very extraordinary way. While his memory was per- 

 fectly retentive of the leading events of his life, although he 

 could recognise every friend he had ever known, and was as 

 familiar with the distinctions of plants as he ever had been, 

 stUl he had lost the faculty of naming both his friends and 

 his plants. He knew aU perfectly — he conversed freely on 

 any and every topic, but when he came to the proper name 

 of a person, place, or thing, his memory entirely failed him. 

 StUl, however, he never withdrew even for one day from the 

 active duties of his gai-den, and there, in his closely-packed 

 little " experimental," ie might be seen from day to day and 

 all day long tending anaeven talking to his garden favourites. 



In such a state it was necessary that Mr. Beaton should 

 desist from literary work untO, by the absorption of the ex- 

 travasated blood, the cause of the aflliction should be re- 

 moved, and until sufficient time had elapsed to permit a 

 healthy restoration of the functions of the parts. It is with 

 much pleasure that we are enabled to assure our readers 

 that this jjrocess has proceeded so far that Mr. Beaton is 

 now enabled to name almost all his friends, and particularly 

 those with whom he comes in frequent contact ; that he 

 talks fluently about his plants, and that he is now rapidly 

 progressing towards a state which warrants us in hoping that 

 we shall again have his hearty and genial communications 

 in these pages. 



Although Mr. Beaton cannot contribute to our instruction 

 and amusement as was his wont, by those communications 

 which of themselves have created and diffused the taste for 

 the modern style of flower-gardening in this country, he is 

 labouring stiU in another field. Who can tell what stores 

 of beauty are yet to issue from that "experimental ?" We 

 have ah'eady been charmed with those lovely "Nosegay" 

 Geraniums which owe their origin to Mr. Beaton's skUl, 

 amd, above all, are we indebted to him for that glorious 

 " Stella," of which we heard one of our most eminent horti- 

 culturibts say, " If he never raised anything else, that is 

 enough to immortalise him." On a visit we recently paid 

 we found Mr. Beaton " over head and ears " amongst crowds 



of seedling Geraniums of aU sizes, shapes, and colours such 

 as we never saw before. Among these there were manj 

 that attracted our notice by the immense size of the flowers, 

 some of which were as large as a crown piece, and by the 

 novelty and extreme richness and Ijeauty of their colours. 

 One called Ossian has already been sent out. The colour is 

 of the richest velvety deep scarlet, with an azure hue at 

 the base of the petals resembling that hue seen in Cactus 

 speciosissimus, but of course not so brilliant ; another called 

 Helen Lindsay, a rose far excelling Kose Queen and Princess 

 Alexandra both in size and colour ; and there were numerous 

 others not yet let out ; Eebeoca, a charming rosy-lilac of 

 great brilliancy and richness of colour ; Amy Hogg, a lovely 

 magenta, quite novel in colour ; and Indian Yellow, a large 

 rich-coloured flower of the colour of the yellow in Indian 

 shawls. These are all novelties, perfectly unique, and unlike 

 anything else that has hitherto appeared. 



In this way does Mr. Beaton spend his happy hours ; and 

 there is but one regret mingled with all this pleasure, and 

 that is that he is debarred from keeping up that weekly 

 intercourse with liis friends, which has now lasted for so 

 many years ; but he desires us on his part to state that to 

 the many readers of The Journal op Horticcltuke who 

 have listened to him so long and so patiently, he desires to 

 be very kindly remembered. 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO LOCAL EXHIBITIONS. 



DEAL AND WALMER HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In asking you to depart from yoiu- usual rule of not in- 

 serting notices of provincial exhibitions by giving place to 

 a short notice of this Show held at the end of last month, 

 I do so, not because I am personally connected with it, or 

 because of the superior excellence of the articles produced, 

 or because it was favoured by the presence of otir noble 

 Premier and Lady Palmerston, but because there are a few 

 points of encouragement connected with it which might 

 lead others to attempt what we have done, and thus extend 

 the advantages which flower shows do unquestionably confer 

 on floriculture — advantages of which no stronger proof could, 

 I think, be given than the progress our little Society exhibits. 



About five years ago it occurred to a few persons, most 

 of them either small tradesmen or gardeners, to attempt 

 a horticultural exhibition. They had great causes of dis- 

 couragement in their undertaking. In the whole eastern 

 division of the county of Kent there was not a single flower 

 show ; while they had on either side of them, at Wingham 

 and Eamsgate, instances of societies which had floiu-ished 

 for a little while and then died out. However, they were 

 not deterred, and, despite of difficulties, they prepared to 

 launch their little boat. Knowing that I was interested in 

 gardening, I was asked to give it a gentle push by deHver- 

 ing a lecture on " The Pleasiu-es and Advantages of Gar- 

 dening ;" but with that exception, and that was not much, 

 the whole work of setting it on foot was theirs. As usual 

 there were some little hitches — a shoal here and a rook 

 there ; one with a crotchet of one kind and another with 

 something else. However, they got faii-ly afloat, and their 

 first show was held ; then in the following year another 

 with increasing interest. They then began to be somewhat 

 alarmed at their success — they had created their Franken- 

 stein, but they were sadly afraid he would gobble them up. 

 Their expenditure had increased, and they felt that if a wet 

 day came they would be seriously affected by it. They 

 therefore proposed to alter their constitution — to make two 

 Committees, one a financial, to be composed of gentlemen, 

 on whom would rest the responsibility of the money part of 

 the concern, and the other a working Committee. These were 

 after a time merged into one, out of the larger Committee a 

 smaller one for managing the Show, &c., being formed. All 

 have worked amicably together, and the Show has each year 

 increased in interest ; and with the good feeling at present 

 existing I have little doubt of its continuance. 



It is wonderful how great has been the stimulus given 

 to horticulture in our neighbourhood by means of this 

 little effort. There are now between forty and fifty exhi- 

 bitors in fr-uits, flowers, and vegetables. Greenhouses and 

 hothouses have been built in many instances in consequence. 

 Persons who hardly knew one flower from another are now 



